Musical Oddessy
by Siobhan Recca
Summary: PG-13, cause I don't know how high it might get. This is a response to everyone who insists that my song fics are depressing (well, they are...) so I stopped listening to depressing country music for a while and popped in some good ole rock. Here's the re
1. Magic Power

Ethan Frome

It was early in the morning and he was the first one awake, but Harry stretched easily as he sat up in his nearly too small bed in the seventh year Gryffindor's boy's dorm. He couldn't help but smile as he gazed out the window upon the dawning of a new day that promised great beauty in its fiery birth, despite the overhanging threat of Voldermort. He slipped out of his bed, slid his feet into his soft flannel slippers and padded softly over to the high-arched stone window that looked out of the top of the Gryffindor tower overlooking the pond where the great squid lived. 

He breathed deeply of the sharp, fresh air of the morning as he leaned against the window sill. His ever wild hair sprouted about more wildly than ever due to his skipping the application of a brush to his untamed locks. His emerald eyes squinted slightly as he gazed out of the glass pane as he had left his glasses on the nightstand. 

Turning away from the window, he padded over to his trunk and pulled out a new set of robes to wear for the day. Getting dressed, he snatched his glasses off the nightstand and his Firebolt out from under his bed. Pausing just long enough to tug his shoes on over his orange socks, he dashed out the door and down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. 

In the brilliantly gold and scarlet room he spotted a red-headed waif reading in a scarlet leather armchair over by the dimly burning fireplace. Another early riser in the form of the sixth year sister of his best friend Ron Weasley. With a mischievous grin, he darted over to her and laid a strong hand on her thin arm. When she looked up, he smiled and jerked his head towards the portrait hole. 

"Come on, Gin! Let's go!" He whispered, his emerald eyes dancing with roguishness behind his black framed glasses. 

"Go? Go where?" her reply was startled, but she stood and headed out with him anyways. After all, she was Ginny Weasley and she had only had the biggest crush on the messy headed rouge that was tugging her out of the portrait hole since she had first laid eyes upon him. Unlike most school-girl crushes though, this one hadn't faded away with time. It had grown stronger.

__

Something's at the edge of your mind

You don't know what it is

Something you were hoping to find

And you're not sure what it is

Then you hear the music

And it all comes crystal clear

The music does the talking

Says the things you want to hear

'I'm young

I'm wild

And I'm free

Got the magic power of the music in me'

'I'm young

I'm wild

And I'm free

Got the magic power of the music in me'

She followed him down twisting corridors and through doors until finally they emerged outside of the great Hogwarts Castle. Almost as soon as his feet hit the grass, he grabbed her other hand and spun her about with a wild burst of laughter. Then almost as quickly, he released her hands in order to spin about on his own with his precious Firebolt in his hands over his head. Slowly, he came to a stop and looked out over the slight slope of the land as it ran down to the lake. 

"I don't know where, Gin." He said, his deep voice sending thrills down her spine as he looked back over one muscular shoulder to grin that roguish smirk of his at her. "Anywhere! I just want to hop on this broom and soar off to somewhere I've never been before!" 

Then he was spinning again. But suddenly he stopped and rushed in front of her. Grasping her tiny hands between his own great paws he looked down at her and smiled, his verdant eyes dancing with laughter and joy instead of the sorrow and weariness that she was so used to seeing there. That alone made her smile in reply though the conversation so far was proving rather disheartening. 

"And you'd come with me, wouldn't you?" he asked, looking at her so pleadingly that she would have said yes even if the thought of following him to far off places had never crossed her mind before. 

"Harry, of course I would." She replied, smiling up and him with her endearing little smile that caused his stomach to flip-flop. His enthusiasm was contagious at worst, totally taking over her body, heart and soul at best.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, in the depths of his soul, he knew that she would never refuse him. But, he felt that he just had to ask. Had to know. And her answer made him about the happiest man on the whole wide earth at that moment. 

"Well, let's go!" he crowed, climbing on the Firebolt and pulling her up behind him. She wrapped her arms about his waist and hugged tight to his black robed body, never wanting to let go. Maybe he didn't love her like she loved him, but he needed her, and for now, for that moment, it was enough.

__

She lies in her bed

She pulls her covers over head

And she turns her little radio on

She's had a rotten day

So she hopes the DJ's

Gonna play her favorite song

Makes her feel much better

Brings her closer to her dreams

A little magic power makes it better than it seems

She's young now

She's wild now

She wants to be free

She gets the magic power of the music from me

She's young now

She's wild now

She wants to be free

She gets the magic power of the music from me

Harry and Ginny darted up into the sky like a bolt of lightning. As they rose they could see Ron's groggy face peering out of the seventh year Gryffindor's boy's dorm window and Herminone's eyes widen in shock from the window of the Gryffindor common room. Harry laughed with a wild joy as he sent his Firebolt spinning through a complicated series of loop-the-loops, barrel rolls, and Celtic knots painted in the sky. 

Ginny had never been happier, or perhaps more than slightly frightened in her short sixteen years of life. She was with Harry on his broom and he was happy, and for now, for that moment, it was all that mattered to her. She giggled with sudden joy and tightened her arms around his waist for a moment in a brief hug. 

He glanced back at her over his shoulder and smiled, even as he sent the Firebolt dipping and weaving through the many towers and battlements of Hogwarts Castle. He dipped under the curtain wall and spiraled up through the pastern gate. Never once did he miss a split-second turn or lose his passenger. Not that she could be lost with her grip about his waist. 

They paused a moment before the Sytherin common room window to wave at a foaming at the mouth platinum blonde knave. Then skirted a low-hanging arch in order to swoop around the Gryffindor tower a couple more times. Finally, Harry brought them to a safe landing almost on top of the spot that they had took off from only half of an hour before. 

"Thanks, Gin." He replied, even as he looked away from her out over the landscape. His shoulders swelled and drooped with the great breaths of air he was taking in. "I needed that."

She walked up behind him and laid a gentle hand upon his shoulder. When he turned back to look at her in puzzlement, she smiled. 

"Anytime, Harry. I'll always be here for you when you need me." Then he smiled back and reached up with his free hand to clasp the hand she had laid upon his shoulder. 

__

You're thinking it over

But you just can't sort it out

Do you want someone to tell you

What they think it's all about

Are you're the one and only

Who's sad and lonely

You're reaching for the top

Well the music keeps you going

And its never gonna stop

It's never gonna stop

It's never gonna 

Never gonna

Never gonna

Never gonna

Never gonna

Never gonna stop

Ginny watched as Harry raced off to class in the company of her older brother and Hermione. She sighed as she remembered that wild flight throughout Hogwarts Castle with Harry earlier that morning. The other sixth year girls and a couple of the seventh year girls smirked knowingly as they overheard her sigh. 

Then a dark, evil looking black owl soared into the room, dropped a letter almost contemptuously on the ground in front of her and soared off again. Even as she wondered why the owl had carried the letter in its beak instead of tied to its foot where it would be easier to carry, she leaned down and picked up the fallen message. As she picked it up and read the dark reddish brown writing on the front, she dropped it again in horror. Blood inscribed the words _To Harry Potter_ on the front of the letter. 

She gasped in shock, then grabbed the letter from where it had fallen when it had fell from her suddenly nerveless hand and vaulted out of the Gryffindor common room. She raced hell-bent-for-leather down the hall after the rapidly diminishing figures of the trio of friends. When she reached them, they looked at her in confusion as she stood there panting from her exertion. Wordlessly, she handed the letter to Harry, gazing up at him through her auburn bangs and forestalling any questions as to her madcap dash.

Harry quickly pulled the letter open and scanned through it. His eyes flashed dangerously behind his glasses when he looked up again.

"I need to go and talk to Dumbledore. Thank you, Ginny" Harry offered distractedly as an answer to the many questions directed at him from Ron and Hermione. Ginny just stood there in shock, her eyes filled with horror. It was bad. It had to be. He hadn't called her anything but just Gin for years now. 

She trailed after Harry even after Ron and Hermione had gone off to their mutual class to make excuses for Harry's absence. Up stairs. Down halls. Through arches. Until finally, they stopped before a gargoyle statue. After a muttered password that Ginny missed, they slipped up another long flight of stairs until they came to an ornate door.

Harry rapped once upon the door then pushed it open after a muffled call from inside. Ginny lurked outside until Dumbledore called her in. Harry stared at her in horror as she slipped meekly into the room.

"Gin, what?!" he began, though Dumbledore cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"I said I'd be here for you." She mumbled, before slipping off to gently stroke the long, fine feathers of Fawkes in the corner. 

"It will be alright, Harry. She'll be fine." Dumbledore reassured him.

"But Voldemort..." 

"Harry, listen to me. I'll keep her safe from harm, if that's what reassurance you need." Dumbledore interrupted, breaking through Harry's line of thought. "Voldemort will not be allowed to have her."

__

The world is full of compromise

A midful in red tape

But the music's got the magic

It's you're one chance for escape

Turn me on

Turn me up

It's your time to dream

A little magic power

Makes it better than it seems

I'm young now

I'm wild now

I want to be free

I've got the magic power of the music in me

I'm young now 

I'm wild 

And I'm free

I've got the magic power of the music

I got the music

In me

I got the power

I got the magic

She's got the power

She's got the magic

You got the power

You got the magic

Harry allowed himself to be reassured, though he didn't want to. He was afraid for Ginny. He wanted her to be safe, even if he couldn't be. He saw her as someone to be protected, and he wanted to be the one to protect her. Maybe she didn't love him like he loved her, but he felt that she needed him. And for him, that was enough. 

And in a way, he needed her too. He needed to fell needed, wanted. He so desperately needed to be useful. To have a purpose. He had to know that if he died, there would be some good left behind that people would be able to look at and say '_Look there, that Harry Potter boy did good. He died a good man.' _ And that meant the world to him. 

Ginny just gazed at him, a strange look in her eyes that he had seen there before. He just didn't know what it meant. She looked sad, yet at the same time, infinitely happy. 

She was terrified, thrilled, overjoyed and filled with sorrow all at once as she looked upon him. She had heard Dumbledore and him talking before Dumbledore called her in. She knew Voldemort had declared war upon Hogwarts. She knew what that meant. She just hoped that something would happen that would keep him away from Harry.

Even as she thought that, she knew that it was impossible. Harry would go after him if nothing else. There was no way she could keep him safe. She knew that he wouldn't let him follow her if he chased after Voldemort. 

She knew that her defensive spells were much stronger than Harry's. But just from his tirade earlier, she knew he wouldn't let her come either. She hid a tiny sigh as she realized that they would never be truly equal, no matter how much they might have needed each other. 

All of a sudden, her thoughts were interrupted by a piercing wail that echoed through the room. Dimly she became aware of words within the wail. 

**__**

"Hogsmeade is under attack!"

And there was no more time for thought.


	2. The Battle Of Hogsmeade

Musical Odesssy 

At that moment, Ron and Hermione burst into the room. 

"Professor Dumbledore!" they shouted so close together that their voices wove into one intermingling whole.

"Yes, yes. I've already heard." Dumbledore muttered, rising from his seat behind his desk and walking around to face them. "In fact, I was just about to summon the two of you here." 

"Us, sir?" Hermione sounded startled as she gazed at the elderly schoolmaster.

"Yes. You four, yes, you too, young Miss Weasley, have the most experience of dealing with Voldemort's forces. And we have need of your unusual talent of surviving these encounters." Dumbledore looked troubled and kept stroking at his long white beard. 

"What do you want us to do?" That was Harry, ever the serious one in situations of danger. 

Dumbledore brought his eyes down from the ceiling and locked gazes with Harry. "We need someone to lead the defense of Hogsmeade. It needs to be someone who will inspire the young wizards and witches who go to battle this day."

"I understand. I'll be ready to leave in the moment." Harry nodded, turning on his heel and vanishing through the door.

"As for the rest of you, Ron, you and Ginny will be leading another force in a pincers movement in an attempt to stop Voldemort's insurgence once and for all."

"What about me, sir?" Hermione asked, anxious to be useful. 

"You'll be with Harry serving in the same position as Ginny shall be with Ron." Dumbledore replied decisively, despite the fact that he didn't like what he was doing. "The various levels of testing you have been at the past several years have shown that you girls have a more powerful grasp on defensive spells than Ron and Harry. No offense, Ron, but yours and Harry's talents lean more to offensive techniques."

"If that's the case, then you should switch Ginny and I. I've been working more with Ron than Harry, and Ginny's defensive spells are more stable than mine."

"And what say you, Ron?"

"Much as I hate to send Gin into danger, Hermione's right. She'd be the best bet with Harry." Ron looked as if saying that was worse than pulling teeth.

"And you, young Miss Weasley? Do you have a problem with the new structure?"

Ginny's voice was soft as she replied, though firm. "I would happily die to keep Harry safe, Professor Dumbledore, sir. He means more to me than anything."

"So be it."

And then there were plans to be made and the time for talking was through. 

__

July the twenty-first it was the year 2001   
We met them at Hogsmeade   
But they called it old Death Run   
Old Pettigrew had orders   
Our armies should not meet   
But Weasely slipped around him   
Insuring his defeat

So I'll lay ten galleons down   
And count them one by one   
If you'll just show me the one  
That whipped Peter Pettigrew   
That whipped Peter Pettigrew

"Forward!" Harry roared with every ounce of his being, thrusting his wand towards the dark, seething mass of the Death Eater army like a sword from his perch upon his Firebolt. From her vantage point on a Hogwarts' Shooting Star nearby, Ginny thought that he looked like nothing so much as a bold and daring knight from the old muggle stories of the time when wizards and witches and muggles all lived side by side without fear or having to hide their true selves. 

"For Hogwarts! For Harry Potter!" the hastily constructed Army of Hogwarts cried back. Light glimmered and shone like a beacon from their congregation in muted counterpoint to the dark arpeggio of the Death Eater Army. 

When Ginny looked back to where Harry had hovered just moments prior, she was startled to discover that he was no where to be found. Spinning about though, she soon found him hovering nearby with a strange look upon his memorable features. For a moment, she just stared at him, as if to somehow engrave his features into her memory, a fearful precaution against the battle that laid before them. But soon she found her voice and spoke.

"Where do you want me, Harry?" she asked with as much confidence as she could muster to reinforce her quavering spirit.

His eyes darkened with some odd emotion for a moment, then snapped with sudden fire as he made his reply. "Where do I want you?" he snorted, "I want you as far from her as possible, Gin! This is no place for you!" 

She did not reply, but instead simply sat there and gazed determinedly at him with implacable repose. He sighed and shook his head, knowing when there was a battle he simply could not win.

"But since you obviously won't go back to Hogwarts, what I need is the best shield spell you've ever cast guarding those wizards and witches down there. Don't worry about me. Just protect them." He looked away from her towards where the first fleeting sparks of spell reflecting from spell were just beginning to show. "They don't deserve to die today."

Because he looked away, he never saw the resolve or pain written across her face. How could she ever not worry about him when he insisted on putting himself in danger all the time? It was times like those, when that mysteriously inexorable courage emerged and he put all thoughts of his own safety aside for the safety of others, that made her both love him all the more and yet, paradoxically, hate him with a vehemence all her own. 

__

The Death Eaters were in London   
Malfoy at their command   
As cruel an Eater officer   
As any in the land   
Their cry of 'On to Hogwarts!'   
Was heard from every lip   
Except they didn't reckon   
With the Army of the Light

So I'll lay ten galleons down   
And count them one by one   
If you'll just show me the one   
That whipped Peter Pettigrew   
That whipped Peter Pettigrew

The battle raged for what seemed like days. Neither side could seem to find a foothold in order to encroach upon the opposing force's position for more than fleeting moments. Light surged and broke against the Dark like the ocean's waves during a hurricane, tearing away at the caliginous allies and leaving shattered remains in their wake. Dark thundered and roared like a tornado through the forces of the Light, rendering the blameless innocents in wreckage underneath their tramping feet. Everywhere was strewn the dead and the dying.

Iron clashed and sparked from stones hidden in the ground beneath steel shod foot and cloven hoof. Brilliant lights flashed and glimmered in silent battle, deflecting and reflecting against and upon each the other. The still night air was rent with the moans and screams of the dying and wounded and the shouts of the wizards and witches still struggling on against deplorable odds.

In the skies above, a extraordinary aerial affray of the likes which had never afore graced the eyes of mortal man was plied by four warriors mounted upon steeds of wood and magic. They soared about through the crystalline air lashing out at one another with swords and lances of glistening light and spears and axes of the most malodorous of blackness. Few words echoed down from that immortal battle.

For there, high in the night above the battleground, flew the Champion of the Light and his gentle Companion against two of the inner sanctum of the Lord of Darkness.

No mere foot soldiers these hideous assassins, their mettle had been tested once before during the first war waged against the Lord of Darkness, and they had writ their names in blood. But not in honorable combat upon the battle field. No, these brief Champions of Darkness sent good men and women to their Maker in dark alleyways and back roads, never in the light of day, did these rank cowards venture. Then, seventeen years before, in the darkness of a night much like the night they battled in now, they caused the merciless demise of the parents of the Champion of the Light. Now, in the air above the Hogsmeade's battlefield, they found themselves facing their legacy. 

And neither him nor his companion would ever, could ever, forgive them. 

__

When Weasley reinforced us   
And met with Old Man Crouch   
Old Pettigrew was troubled   
And took it very hard   
For Harry Potter's forces   
Where there to give him pain   
His army was defeated   
His charge was all in vain

So I'll lay ten galleons down   
And count them one by one   
If you'll just show me the one   
That whipped Peter Pettigrew   
That whipped Peter Pettigrew

The day had dawned for the second time over the weary warriors when the news came of reinforcements. 

For a time, the Dark surged forward, confident of triumph. Then, suddenly, the Light was there and there was no longer anywhere for the forces of the Dark to go. For the reinforcements that the Dark force had so craved had been lead by old man Crouch.

Yet, it was a tow-headed man and a tousle-haired woman who lead the small army marching towards them, wearied, yet flush with victory. Weasley had met with Crouch on the road to Hogsmeade from London and his force had soundly trounced the devilish operation. 

With renewed fervor, the forces under Potter crashed into the piecemeal remains of the Dark army and crushed them between the two branches in a classic hammer and anvil technique.

In the sky above, their was a brief flash of brilliant light and a scream. 

All eyes turned up to see Lucius Malfoy plummet from his broom to smash into the ground with a sickeningly wet thud, prisoner to the _totalicus immoblius _from Ginny Weasley, followed shortly by two other brooms shattering into the earth. One a Nimbus 2001, the other a Shooting Star with the words _Property of Hogwarts _carved into the shaft. Peter Pettigrew soon came floating down to earth, bound to his broom. 

Harry Potter was the last to descend from the sky. Cradled in his powerful arms, the sobbing form of Ginny Weasley, suffering from a bad case of shock from the results of her spell.

The battle was over. And slowly, the fallen began to be gathered to be prepared for burial. The Light had won, though not without great cost. Yet, it had been discovered where Voldemort was hiding. He was tucked away in the hills of the South of the United States of America. 

Now it was time to take the battle to him.

Author's Notes: I do hope that you've been enjoying this Musical Odessy so far! Don't worry, it is going somewhere! (And if you're wondering, yes, I think it does need to go to the American South to work. Mainly because I'm sort of modeling it after the American Civil War, and I need to get Harry away from England, but I don't really know any other country well enough.) Promise! And even if it gets a bit angstsy (it will), I will at least go so far as to promise a happy ending for all H/G shippers, though probably not the kind you are expecting!. ;D If you are wondering, the song of this chapter and the songs used in chapters 7, 9, 10, 11, and 13 are modified at least marginally. They are actually old folksongs which originated during the American Civil War (except for the one in chapter 11 - that's actually about Captain A. B. Stormalog, still a folksong though.), and I've changed them a bit to be about the situation, so it makes a little more sense. But, if enough people ask me, I'll be sure to include an unmodified set of lyrics at the end of the Odessy. But, till then, I guess I'll just keep pounded my keyboard! ;p

-Siobhan Recca   
The Cybernetic Ninja

PS: For those of you who reviewed my other song-fic (_The Only Thing Wrong_) and were wondering about the identity of Ginny's silver-haired husband: _The Only Thing Wrong _is a working sequel/coinciding story with _The Greatest Man I Never Knew_, wherein I mentioned Harry's prematurely graying hair, thus, the silver haired man is, in fact, Harry Potter. 


	3. Fight The Good Fight

The days prior to the leaving of the boys were filled with both anxiously hurried preparing as well as an odd sort of simmering resentment being aimed at them from the female members of the Hogwarts and Hogsmeade communities. For it had been decided that it was the male population that would spearhead the attack upon Voldemort and his followers, while the womenfolk were left behind to protect and defend the homes and families. Which did not make for the most happy of women, or men for that matter.

"You are not leaving us behind, you two!" Raged a even more harried looking Hermione Granger as she stood blocking the exit from the Gryffindor tower from the two lanky young men before her. "Dumbledore himself said that our defensive spell were stronger than yours! And yours are the strongest in our class, Harry!"

Behind her, lurking in the portal itself, stood a pale-faced and worried, yet resolute Ginny Weasley. It was the scared look on her face that was drawing the somber faced Harry Potter's attention more than Hermione's ranting and raving. Abruptly, he made a decision.

"It's not my decision to make. One moment though, Hermione, please. I just remembered something I need to get from my room." He stated, spinning about sharply on one heel and marching up to his dorm. 

"You see! That is exactly what I mean!" Was the last thing he heard before the thick door slide closed with a soft thump and blocked out the sound of her growingly panicked voice. He strode across the stone flags of the room to his desk with a purposeful air. Once at the heavy oaken affair, he withdrew his wand from his pocket, reached through the footwell as far back as he could, then tapped the tip of the wand, once, twice, against the far back, left hand corner of the drawer for quills. There was a soft whirl of sound the an almost softer click, emanating from the desk. Straightening, he replaced his wand to his pocket and pulled open the quill drawer. First it slid out the short bit it always did, then after a second gentle tug, he pulled it out the rest of the way, though it did not remove itself from the desk, rather it opened into a full-sized drawer. 

Inside, nearly completely full to the brim, were neatly tied stacks of letters. Most of the stacks were addressed to senders but never sent. However, he reached to the very back and removed a much smaller stack from where it was tucked away behind another. That stack he tucked away into a pocket of his robe, then pulling out quill and parchment from another drawer, he hurriedly scribbled out two letters. One he slipped into his pocket, the other he folded neatly into an envelope and tucked away under the stack the furthest back in the drawer. 

Pushing the drawer closed, he spun about and strode back out of the room. 

_Days grew shorter   
And the nights are getting long   
Feels like we're running out of time   
Everyday it seems much harder   
Telling right from wrong   
You've got to read between the lines   
Don't get discouraged   
Don't be afraid   
We can make it through another day   
Make it worth the price we pay_

"Sorry, Hermione, but I need to speak with Gin." Harry stated almost as soon as his foot left the last step, and he turned towards the tiny crowd cluttering the accessway. For a moment, Ron looked as though he would throw his arms about his friend for his brilliance, but the next words out of the Boy Who Lived's mouth dashed all of the youngest Weasley boy's hopes of a clever escape. 

"Alone. Gin, please?" Ginny nodded, and quietly accepted the proffered hand as she followed the boy, no, man, whom she loved more than anything. 

He led her down passages, normally cluttered with the hustle and bustle of students busily hurrying about on their way to their variegated classes, now empty. Through archways bordered by strangely absentee wizards and witches in their empty gilded frames. Up and down stairways filmed with a light tracery of dust, unmarred by the footprints that would typically litter the stone flags. And finally, through a single doorway and out. Out into a silent garden where the soft fragrance of blossoms and greenery wafted gently through the air to tickle their noses with its delicate touch.

Harry released her hand just within the doorway, leaving the red-headed woman, almost yet a child, standing oddly bereft behind him as he stepped towards the massive stone wall, before them, overgrown and tangled with greenery. He paused a second to glance back over his shoulder at her with a quick wink, then leapt towards the wall and vanished into the stonework. She reached towards where he had vanished, her face a mask of worry and anxiousness. 

"Harry?" She whispered, taking a halting step forwards. "Please don't leave me here alone."

And then, he reappeared, his head poking though the masonry which barricaded the way before her, a strangely soft smile on his face. Then his head vanished again, only to be replaced shortly thereafter by his arm reaching out to her. Filled with trepidation she took the hand thrust from the wall, and suddenly gasped as she was suddenly pulled through the wall.

And into a tiny grotto, hidden away from prying eyes. 

A bare trickle of a stream traced its way through the far edge. Besides it blossomed a rose bush whose flowers were of a lavender so dark that they almost seemed blue. Harry was perched on the simple stone bench that presided against the high stone wall to her immediate left. The way to the right was blocked off by a tall maze hedge, and the far wall of the castle itself prevented further passage onwards. She spun around, only to find that instead of an impenetrable wall there was a simple tunnel through a similar hedge wall, and the only thing preventing her from full vision of the doorway which they had entered through was a curtain of plain vines, which blossomed with tiny white flowers. 

"Harry?" Came the tremulous question from her soft lips. "Where - what - what is this place?"

"It's one of the hidden gardens." He replied, standing and walking to her side to guide her to the bench. "I found it a couple of years ago with the help of my father's map. I come here, sometimes, when I want to think, or just get away from everyone."

She looked up at him, confused. He didn't notice, as he was gazing off into the sky above the hedge wall from where he leaned back against the cool stone of the wall behind them, so she resorted to words. 

"Then, why did you bring me here? If this is your place, I mean." 

When he turned to look at her, she dropped her gaze from the odd pain she found within the verdant depths of his eyes. "You didn't want to come?" 

"Oh, I did! Of course, I did! I would follow you anywhere! You know that." The last bit was whispered softly as a slightly more rosy hue tinted her freckled cheeks. "I just don't understand why you would give up your last refuge."

"I didn't realize I was giving anything up." He whispered, almost to softly to hear before speaking in a more normal tone as he continued. "I wanted you to have a place, too. Gin," he reached over and gently raised her face up to meet his gaze. "you're one of my best friends. Sometimes, I feel like there are things I can talk about with you that I can't talk about with anyone else." He chuckled once, softly, a rueful sound. "You know, you probably know more about me that anyone, probably even including me. But, Gin? I know you."

_The Good Book says it's better   
To give than to receive   
I do my best to do my part   
Nothing in my pockets   
I've got nothing up my sleeves   
I keep my magic in my heart   
Keep up your spirit   
Keep up you faith, baby   
I am counting on you   
You know what you got to do_

"Harry..." she started to say, as she reached up and grasped his hand where it yet rested upon her chin, but never had the chance to finish what she was going to say. 

"No, Gin. I do know you. I know you want to come with us. I know your scared. Scared that we won't come back. I can see it in your eyes when you look at Ron or me, or anyone else that's going. And I'm not going to lie to you, Gin. We might not." He clasped her free hand in his own, as he saw the tears beginning to brim in her eyes. "Please, don't cry, Gin."

"Harry, you need me to come!" she suddenly sobbed. "I can help! I'm the best with charms and defensive spells! You need me there!"

He stopped her head-long rush with a single finger against her lips. She stopped speaking, though the tears still streamed down her face. "No, Gin." He murmured, only loud enough for her to hear, his emerald eyes filled with an unusual glimmer. "I need you here. I need you safe."

"But, Harry..."

"Shush. I need a reason to come back." A slow, sad smile spread across his face as he gentle brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, though his eyes shone with unshed tears. "Be that reason? " 

She nodded, even as she sniffled back the few remaining tears. "Of course, Harry. Always and forever. I promise. If you ever need me, whatever you need me for, I'll always be here."

"Thanks, Gin." He quickly pulled her into a brief hug, then pulled back and began rummaging in the pockets of his robe. Pulling out the letter he had stuffed in there earlier, he offered it to her. "Here, this is for you."

Then, before she even had the chance to open the letter, a sudden claxon broke the peaceful silence. 

"That's my cue." He said, "I need to be going now." Then, filled with sudden resolve, he leaned over and brushed his lips softly against the startled girl's. Then he was gone, the vine curtain swaying lightly as the only sign of his departure. 

Ginny pressed her hand gently against her lips as a light blush spread across her cheeks. Then, she leapt to her feet and dashed off after him, to say her farewells to the departing boys who were so suddenly forced to become men. 

_Fight the good fight everybody   
Every minute   
Every day   
Fight the good fight everybody   
It's your only way_

She caught up only moments before he was about to step aboard the train that would whisk them away on what was certain to be the greatest adventure, as well as the most dangerous times of their short lives. As she raced past the surrounding crowds, she was suddenly struck by the realization that when they came back, so many of those she saw standing about with a kind of forced nonchalance were not going to be coming back with them. And that thought blurred her vision with the tears that trickled down her face. 

"Wait! Wait!" She cried as she finally managed to push through the last remaining line of people to stand panting slightly before Harry and her bewildered brother. 

"What is it, Gin?" Ron asked, mere moments before he was enveloped in her embrace. 

"I'll miss you, Ron." She said, choking back tears. "Come home safe, okay?" 

Ron smiled a bittersweet smile as he returned her farewell hug. "Don't worry, Gin. I'll look after him." He replied. 

She looked at him startled by his comment. Ron merely winked in reply. Then she turned to where Harry had been standing silently to the side. Gathering her resolve about her, she carefully stepped across the distance between them. Then her arms slipped about his neck, and his wrapped themselves about her waist. 

"I'll miss you, Harry." She whispered into his ear. "Come home safe." 

"I'll miss you, too. And I'll do my best to come home in one piece, so long as I know you're here, safe and sound." He replied, tightening his embrace slightly. It was Ron's clearing of his throat that reminded them of where they were. 

But Ginny Weasley was not one to be so lightly dissuaded from her path once she had set her mind to travel it, which was why with tears streaming down her face, she kissed him lightly upon the cheek and whispered six simple words into his ear before releasing him to board the train.

"Please, come home. I love you." 

He watched her fade into the distance from where he sat peering out the window into the fog, as the train pulled away from the station.

_All your life   
You've been waiting for your chance   
Where you fit into the pact   
You're the master of your own destiny   
So get out   
And take the best that you can   
You think that move of mine   
Can buy your soul some rest   
You better think something else instead   
You're so afraid   
Of being honest with yourself   
You better take a look inside yourself   
Nothing is easy   
Nothing good is free   
But I can tell you where to start   
Take a look inside your heart   
There's an answer in your heart_

"What did you do to her?" Ron asked suspiciously, despite his reassurance to his sister, he was still her big brother. "Why was she crying?"

"I convinced her to stay, that's all." Harry said with a sigh, as he leaned back against the seat and stared up at the ceiling of their compartment. His fingers brushed lightly against his lips in memory. "Say, Ron? What would you do if I said I kind of, well, you know..."

"Know what, you silly prat?" Ron wasn't even paying much attention, staring out the window as he was.

Harry blushed darkly. "I like Gin."

"Well, of course you do, you two are friends after all." Ron tossed the statement off. 

"No, Ron. I mean, I really like her. Maybe, maybe even love..." That last bit had been little more than a whisper, but given the closeness of their compartment, it suddenly brought Ron's attention fully to bear upon Harry.

"Then I say you had damn well better not hurt her." Ron stated firmly, glaring at some point on Harry's chest. "Because if you do, I swear by God Almighty, I'm going to kill you."

Harry gulped softly, his Adam's apple bobbing about in his throat. "I don't want to hurt her, Ron."

Ron's eyes raised to meet Harry's, and surprised the other boy with how strangely soft they were, not at all the red-hot pokers that Harry was expecting. "I know you don't, Harry. I know you don't."

_Fight the good fight everybody   
Every minute   
Every day   
Fight the good fight everybody   
Make it worth the price we pay   
Every moment of your waking   
Every minute   
Every day   
Fight the good fight everybody   
Make it worth the price we pay_

Back at Hogwarts, Ginny finally got the chance to read the letter Harry had given her in the secret grotto.

**Dear Gin,   
How are you? God, this is so cliched already. The reason I'm writing this is because soon we won't be able to see each other, and that is seriously tearing me up inside. I've written you so many letters over the years, but I've never had the courage to send them. To think, the rest of the world is convinced that I'm so brave, but I don't even have what it takes to send a letter to a girl! I didn't get rid of them though. I saved them. Every last one. And now, with what's going on, I'm realizing that there's a chance that I might never get to send any of them. On top of that, I probably won't even be able to write you while I'm out there fighting. So, I'm going to attempt to kill two birds with one stone. Go to my dorm, Gin. At my desk you should tap twice against the far back, left hand top corner of the footwell with your wand. Something should click. Then open the top drawer, the one where I keep my quills, you know which one. It won't come open all of the way at once, so give it a tug. Not to hard though! You don't want it flying out! But, behind the quills, you'll find the letters. I hope that you can stay strong through out these days. I'll come back as soon as we've defeated Voldemort. I promise. **

Forever, 

Harry.


End file.
